Fit and trim Donovan (Razor) Ruddock ready to fight again

Fit and trim Donovan (Razor) Ruddock ready to fight again

Boxing is littered with tales of ill-conceived comebacks, of fighters trying for one more shot at a title and looking at retirement as the one punch they can avoid. Even, as in the case of Donovan (Razor) Ruddock, if the last punch came more than a decade ago.

Ruddock, who made his professional debut 30 years ago, once beat Lennox Lewis as an amateur. He won his first Canadian heavyweight title in 1988, and the IBC heavyweight title four years later. He was 28 then. He is 48 today. And he is coming back.

“It is something that never leaves your system,” says Chicago-based promoter Bobby Hitz, who fought as a heavyweight in the 1980s. “Not a day goes by that I don’t think about having a fight.”

The fight game never wore Ruddock down. He won his last 10 fights. But a nagging left rotator cuff injury took away his best weapon —a hook-uppercut hybrid he named The Smash — and forced him into retirement in 2001. After fighting at about 230 pounds, he ballooned to 320.

But the weight, like his retirement, was not permanent.

“A lot of these comeback stories are really pathetic,” says Jason Abelson, who represents Ruddock and will announce his return Saturday at a fight card at Mississauga’s Hershey Centre. “Honestly, if it was one of those cases, I wouldn’t be taking it on. I don’t want to see anyone get hurt. He’s 211 pounds right now, and he’s fast.

“He has never been this fit in his life.”

Convincing an athletic commission to license the 48-year-old is the first hurdle, although it might not be difficult if Ruddock is as chiseled as he claims to be. The boxer is not remotely concerned about his condition.

Ruddock has spent the last four years training in his native Jamaica, where he believes running in the high-altitude mountains alleviated his asthmatic symptoms, which had bothered him throughout his career. He is a vegan now, and says he runs 12 kilometres every second day.

“When you see me, you will realize I am serious about this [comeback],” says Ruddock, who won 38 of his 44 professional fights, 29 by knockout. “I am ready to go.”

Is this just about money? Ruddock was obligated to sell his Toronto home and put his house in Jamaica up for auction, due to an ongoing $50-million lawsuit with an engineer he claims stole his idea for a manual trash compactor. The invention was patented, Ruddock says, and the case is headed for summary judgment in the near future.

But he adamantly maintains this is about his love of boxing.

“I don’t fight because of money,” says Ruddock, who earned roughly US$10-million for two fights — both losses — with Mike Tyson in 1991.

He showed considerable courage against Tyson, going the distance in the rematch despite suffering a broken jaw in the fourth round. His most memorable victories were a 1989 knockout of James (Bonecrusher) Smith, and a 1990 KO of former WBA champion Michael Dokes.

This is not the first comeback Ruddock has made. During an extended layoff beginning in 1995, he declared bankruptcy, was charged for forcibly taking a diamond ring from a former girlfriend and was engaged in an acrimonious contract dispute with his brother, and former manager Delroy.

He returned in 1998, and never lost again.

“I think when Donovan left the game, he left on top of his game, not on the lower end,” Hitz says. “He wasn’t one of these fighters who was severely thrashed in his last 12 outings and is now coming back because of being destitute.”

Hitz wants no business with a fighter who is unfit to box, but has heard nothing but positive things from Abelson. He has watched encouraging footage of Ruddock, who is training himself out of Toronto’s Krudar Gym with the help and support of his wife.

If Hitz and Abelson can expedite the licensing process, and lock down a comfortable opponent, Ruddock could fight as soon as the end of May, most likely in the U.S.

And how far can Ruddock realistically expect to go at 48?

“The goal,” Abelson says, “is to get a world title shot.”

If there is a blueprint Ruddock can follow, it is George Foreman, who at 45 became the oldest heavyweight champion in history by defeating Michael Moorer in 1994.

“Age is just a number,” Ruddock says. “When you get in the ring, it is all about physical conditioning. I want to fight now.”